US Senator John McCain called protesters “low-life scum” on Thursday as he ejected them from a hearing where they were calling for the arrest of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

Shortly after Mr Kissinger (pictured) took a seat at the witness table in the armed services committee, protesters from anti-war group Code Pink approached from behind, waving signs and a pair of handcuffs and chanting: “Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes.”

“You know, you’re going to have to shut up or I’m going to have you arrested,” committee chair Mr McCain said, calling for police to remove them.

As officers escorted the protesters out of the room, the unsuccessful 2008 Republican presidential candidate growled: “Get out of here, you low-life scum.”

The upheaval came during a committee hearing that also featured testimony from former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who was sitting at the witness table with Mr Kissinger.

Ms Albright infamously defended UN sanctions against Iraq, saying of the fact that half a million children died because of the sanctions: “We think the price is worth it.”

One protester charged that from 1969 to 1973 when he was national security adviser to president Richard Nixon, Mr Kissinger oversaw the deaths of millions of people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The protester said many thousands more people died from the effects of the defoliant chemical Agent Orange or from unexploded US ordnance littering the countryside.